[Mr. E English]

Hi Williejean,

I guess that if you're presenting basic food items your students must be at a lower level.

Eliciting vocabulary meaning is an acceptable way of presenting vocab. but at a lower level students often don't have the English to give details explanations. Translation is one way around this, but then your knowledge of the students L1 needs to be absolute (at least for the vocabulary set you're presenting) and this can be umpopular if you're supposed to be following the direct approach.

I would definintely suggest flashcards to input basic language like food items. The meaning is immediately clear, it saves a lot of time and you can model correct pronunciation and do a class drill with each card.